August 4, 2014



Dear Family and Friends                                Monday, August 04, 2014 at 10:55 a.m. (EDT)

Investigators bear testimony in church
Some of our investigators came to church. She goes to the 7th Day Adventist Church. Her only concern with our church is that we dont observe the 7th day as the Sabbath. She was super late. We waited for her in the foyer. She came right after the sacrament was passed. The chapel was crowded. She found a seat next to a recent convert that was baptized about 4 years ago.  It was a testimony meeting.  The new investigator and the recent convert bore their testimony.  She opened with, "Praise God Jesus." She then bore a really powerful testimony. The members really fellow shipped her and she loved it.

Women and the Priesthood
There is a Sister in the congregation who is friends with Kate Kelly the leader of the Women and the Priesthood group, who just got excommunicated for apostasy. She wore her pants to church today. This is something that Kate Kelly told her group to do to protest against the church and the priesthood. I dont see any problem with a lady wearing pants to church, but when you know that the only reason is to protest the fact that God gives the priesthood to men only it is a little sad. We go to church to worship God, not to show our petty viewpoints on issues.

Dont attack her
A Sister in the ward invited her friend to church. The other day she told us about her and told us, "Don't attack her." I told her sarcastically that we would just jump in her friends face and try to shove the gospel of Jesus Christ down her throat. At church she introduced her friend to us, then she threw her arms back as if she was holding us back and said to her friend, "Dont worry I will protect you from them." I think it is really weird when members think that we are just going to force their friends to investigate the church. I think members should really trust us more.

Elder Barnes goes in the font in his suit
Elder Barnes and Elder Harrington had a baptism. Elder Harrington was the one that baptized her. He pulled the plug in the font, but a few minutes after he got out, somehow the plug went back in. So Elder Barnes went in, wearing his suit and pulled the plug. He got all wet. It was really funny.

Walked Jess Home
Last night we were walking back at 9:00. A lady was sitting on the curb. When she saw us she got up really quick and said, "Were you the guys I met the other day?" We had met her. She told us that she had gone on a bike ride that was longer than she expected. She was really tired and it got dark. She is 19 and Manchester can be fairly sketchy at night, especially for a girl at night. She asked us if we could walk her home. We walked her to her house. She asked us about the church, we taught her the Restoration as we walked. She wouldnt set up a return appointment, but I am sure we will run into her again, the Lord has already placed her in our path twice this week.

Dinner at the Stokers (New Hampshire Manchester Mission President)
Yesterday we had dinner with President and Sister Stoker. The Bedford Sister Missionaries also came, Sister Bowns, and Sister Upton. Sister Stoker is a really good cook.

Watched the Restoration movie with Thak B. Khadka
Our Nepali investigator understands very little English. We brought the Restoration movie over and watched it with him. It is translated into Nepali. He really enjoyed it and said he would watch it 2 or 3 more times this week to understand it better. He missed church on Sunday but said he really wanted to go next week.

Brazilian Hope Revival Pentecostal Church
I have been to three other churches so far on my mission, The Catholic Church, 7th Day Adventist and now Hope Revival Pentecostal. If all Pentecostal churches are this way, then I am not a big fan. It was really loud too. They would shout their prayers into the microphone. At one point in the service everyone was supposed to be "feeling the spirit" If you felt the spirit you were supposed to show it by standing up and raising your arms and shaking them and yelling hallelujah. The whole service just did not have a good feeling about it. We left after a little while.

B has a Baptism Date
We taught her the gospel, Faith, Repentance, Baptism. She wants to be baptized on October 18. She couldnt come to church because she was working. She truly felt the spirit during our lesson.

May God make your refrigerator to be bountiful
Our investigator read the Book of Mormon for a lesson. He gave a prayer at the end of the lesson he said, "May God make your refrigerator to be bountiful." I thought it was a great request!

Exchange with Elder Hales in Bedford
I exchanged with a new French speaking missionary, Elder Hales. He is from Price Utah area. He is a really good missionary and is really devoted to learning French.

Car Show Cancelled
We were going to help out at a Car Show on Saturday, but they cancelled it due to the weather. What a disappointment! They moved it to Sunday, a day we couldnt do it on.

He's Catholic, I am a Christian
We ran into a couple the other day that asked which denomination we were from. We said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." They asked if that was Catholic or Christian. We said that we were Christian. They then told us that the husband was Catholic and the wife was Christian. This doesnt make much sense.

A brother's conversion story. "I dont want to be a Mormon, but I guess I will."
There is a brother that is a really exceptional member. He has an excellent conversion story. Almost an Alma, or Saul like experience. He grew up in the Bronx in New York. In his own words he says that he was a "very wicked and whorish man." He told us that he did everything that is against Christ's teachings. He saw his life was going no where and wanted to change it. He spent a while studying the Bible and seeking out God's word. He decided to pray and ask God which church he should join. As he was praying a word came to mind, 'Mormon.' He said he turned up as if to look at God and said, "Mormon? God, I don't want to be a Mormon. But I guess I will." He immediately went downstairs and told his wife he was going to be baptized into the Mormon church. She told him, "Why dont you just get baptized into the Catholic Church." He told her that he was going to do whatever God told him too, even if it meant becoming a Mormon.
People yell at us on Granite street.
We ran into some people on Granite street. I asked some guys if they had ever talked to missionaries. He said that they werent interested. So I started to ask if they knew anyone that could use some service. He kept cutting me off and telling me "Hey man I told you I am not interested." He was really frustrating.
So we walked across the street to talk to some people that said to come back. He yelled across the street, "They dont want any either!" By that point in time he was really frustrating me so I yelled back, "We already talked to them and they said to come back, so quit worrying about it!" 
Later on in the day we met some other people on Granite street. Before we even got to them a lady waved her arms and told us, "You might as well keep walking, we dont want to talk to you." 
There was a potential that we had met at that house so we asked her, "Do you know Courtney?" They said she didnt live there any more. I started to ask if they knew where she moved and one of the guys there got in my face and yelled, "Are you deaf! This lady said she's not interested!" He then repeated that phrase about 10 times as I tried to simply say we were trying to figure out if Courtney even lived there any more. They just kept cutting me off.
Some common phrases we hear are, "Hail Satan!" "Satan is my friend." "Have you ever heard of the Lord and Savior, Satan." "I'm all set." "Keep Walking." along with many other vulgar phrases.
Well I am going to eat some Chipotle!

Elder CWJensen